Regional

1st June

New Zealand working to update surrogacy laws to make process easier

WELLINGTON (Reuters) – The New Zealand government will update the country’s surrogacy law to make the process easier and less discriminatory, New Zealand’s Justice Minister Kiri Allan said late on Tuesday. “Surrogacy has become an...

Australia’s Indigenous recognition bill passes first hurdle

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Legislation to hold a referendum to recognise Australia’s Indigenous people in the constitution cleared its first parliamentary hurdle on Wednesday as it was passed in the House of Representatives. Australians will be asked to vote in a referendum, likely to be held between October and December, on whether they support altering the...

31st May

In Australian defamation court, a proxy ‘war crimes trial’ nears judgement

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australian special forces soldier Ben Roberts-Smith was lauded as a hero and awarded Australia’s highest military honour for “conspicuous gallantry” during a 2010 attack on two Taliban machine-gun posts during his fifth tour of Afghanistan. But according to three newspapers, backed by accounts of other soldiers who said they were there, the...

Delay in security treaty with Australia as PNG consults ‘domestic processes’

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Papua New Guinea said a proposed security treaty with neighbour Australia would be delayed as it consults “domestic processes”, a week after signing a defence agreement with the United States that sparked student protests. Papua New Guinea (PNG), a few kilometres (miles) to Australia’s north, is being courted by China and the...

South Korea hosts its first summit with Pacific island leaders

SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hosted the country’s first summit with leaders of Pacific islands on Monday, as Seoul seeks to boost its influence in a region that has become the focus of intense geopolitical rivalry. As the leaders agreed to increase efforts to fight climate change, South Korea will also...

30th May

New Zealand to maintain 15 defence personnel in Solomon Islands through year end

WELLINGTON (Reuters) – New Zealand’s government on Monday said it will maintain defence personnel in the Solomon Islands at the request of local authorities until at least Dec. 31, 2023, extending a peace-keeping mission by as much as seven months. New Zealand deployed defence force staff to the Pacific country in late 2021 at the...

29th May

Sinking islands | ‘Pacific islanders can become migrants and refugees’

The risk of sinking islands will turn citizens of Pacific nations into climate migrants and refugees. Education International president Susan Hopgood mentioned this to teachers trade unionists at the Educators for Climate Justice and Just Transition Conference in Lautoka last week. “When sea-level rise is coupled with storm surges resulting from more frequent storms and...

Pacific islands, in spotlight, to push climate change in South Korea summit

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Pacific island leaders will meet South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol in Seoul on Monday, their third summit in a week with a large economy as the region seeks stronger action on climate change as it becomes a focus of geopolitical power attention. The Pacific islands span 40 million square kilometres of...

Plastic-spewing artwork unveiled for Paris talks against waste

PARIS (Reuters) – Lobbyists Greenpeace unveiled an artwork in Paris on Saturday in the shape of a machine churning out bottles in front of an oil derrick to coincide with talks on eliminating plastic waste. Canadian artist Benjamin Von Wong said his 5-metre-high work by the River Seine showed the link between fossil fuels and...

27th May

Australian sports unite to back Indigenous constitutional recognition

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Twenty Australian sports organisations proclaimed on Friday their backing of a referendum to constitutionally recognise Indigenous people, as the country marked “Sorry Day” when it acknowledges years of injustices to Aboriginal people. Sports including cricket, golf, motorsport, netball and badminton pledged support for a proposed “Voice to Parliament”, a consultative committee that...